Iraqi diplomats are said to have noted the disparity in help offered by Saudi Arabia and Iran, which according to the report pledged nothing at the conference in Kuwait. “Having failed to outfight Iran, the Saudis now want to outspend it,” an Iraqi official was quoted as saying.

Accusing Iran of seeking influence by “stoking sectarianism and gaining the allegiance of Shias,” the report says that Saudi Arabia has adopted a different non-sectarian tactic and “wants to win them [Iraq] back by reviving the country’s Arab identity, and setting Iraqis against Persian Iran.”

Basra, which is Iraq’s richest province, is at the centre of Saudi soft power initiative. A number of projects have been earmarked by the Saudis including reopening a moribund petrochemical plant, which, the authors say, “could help wean Iraq off Iranian products”. Saudis have also set their eyes on a strip of land along the border. The Kingdom wants to turn it into fertile fields by tapping underground aquifers.

It’s not all smooth sailing for the Saudis, the report points out, as Iranian-backed factions in Iraq are alleged to be attempting to sabotage the rapprochement with Saudi Arabia. Their politicians cite the 3,000 or so Saudis who joined Daesh. “How can we welcome our killers?” they protested.

But overall, concludes the report, the Saudi charm offensive has proven popular. “For all their sectarian bonds with Iranian Shias, the people of Basra fought on the front lines of Iraq’s brutal war with Iran. Many view Iranian engagement as colonisation,” the report pointed out.

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Published by andrewtheprophet

This is The Prophecy. The Prophecy is much more than seeing into the future. For The Prophecy sees without the limits of time. For The Prophecy sees what is, what was, and what always shall be.
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